Sanofi, Regeneron unveil positive Praluent cholesterol study

"This is the first time a PCSK9 inhibitor has shown in a clinical study that it reduced the frequency of apheresis therapy, an invasive, difficult to access, time-consuming and expensive treatment for some of the most difficult-to-treat patients," said Bill Sasiela, vice president of programme direction at Regeneron.Reuters | March 23, 2016, 13:14 IST

"This is the first time a PCSK9 inhibitor has shown in a clinical study that it reduced the frequency of apheresis therapy, an invasive, difficult to access, time-consuming and expensive treatment for some of the most difficult-to-treat patients," said Bill Sasiela, vice president of programme direction at Regeneron.

Apheresis, which is a procedure where bad cholesterol is removed from the blood in a process similar to kidney dialysis, can take more than three hours and cost up to $100,000 for each patient per year in the United States or up to 60,000 euros ($67,218) in Germany, the companies said. ($1 = 0.8926 euros) (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)